My wife and I usually stay at excellent hotels when we travel. Winter vacations with southern destinations and great ocean views are always preferred venues. If the hotel has an interesting history or a unique quality and is located close to a beach, all the better. I must tell you that in researching my next year's vacation destinations, I have come across some offbeat vacation resorts to say the least.

Today, there is a real competition between two of the world's exclusive resorts to finish construction of the world's first underwater vacation resort by 2009. The competition for the first undersea hotel is between the Poseidon Undersea Resort in the Fiji Islands and the Hydropolis Underwater Resort in Dubai.

Poseidon has already developed a reservation waiting list for its $15,000 per week stay. Upon arrival, an elevator will transport guests to their room, 40 feet underwater. The suites will be similar to the inside of an aquarium. The room will be enclosed by a 4-inch thick clear acrylic that will wrap around about 70 per cent of the suite. A special console located in each room will allow guests to feed the fish outside the room. The rooms at Poseidon will feature all the amenities of an exclusive resort; such as, king size beds, sitting rooms, libraries, flat screen TVs, Jacuzzi tubs, spas, internet access, and refrigerators with snacks and beverages. In addition to the suites, the resort features six restaurants and seven bars, an underwater library and lounge, a theater area, and a conference room for business events.

The interior surface of the resort is pressure-controlled to ensure guests are never exposed to the physiological effects of hydrostatic pressure. Techniques used to design and build submarines will be employed and every unit in the underwater complex will have a dome and escape hatchet, among countless other safety features.

After watching the fish swim outside the room for a while, guests will be able to explore the depths of the ocean by piloting a mini submarine. A submersible will be available to take guests to a depth of 1000 feet underwater.

Hydropolis is under construction off the Jumeirah coast near Dubai. The Hydropolis Resort logo is "Taking Mankind on a Journey Under the Seas." It will have many of the same exclusive resort amenities as Poseidon and be located 66 feet beneath the sea. Like Poseidon, it will also have a submarine available for guest use.

The construction of this $500 million underwater hotel will create three distinct areas covering over 1.1million square feet: one on land, a connecting tunnel, and the submarine complex. There will also be a ballroom, spa, restaurants, shops, and separate underwater villas. This luxury hotel will have 220 lavish suites, and a missile-defense system to ward off terrorists and will offer rooms for $3000 a night.

Of course, if a potential guest does not want to wait for the completion of these exclusive resorts, the Jules's Undersea lodge has been available for rent since 1986. This little apartment at the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon in Key Largo, Florida features a two bedroom, one bath, accommodation 21 feet underwater. Up to six guests can rent it, but scuba certification is mandatory.

When I discussed all of these possible vacation destinations with my wife, it became clear that both of us preferred a vacation on land. The ocean view and the price tag on these potential vacation venues were a little extreme for our taste. However, adventure travelers with a love of scuba diving, submarines, the sea, and exotic adventure should consider a vacation in 2009 at one of these new exclusive resorts under the sea.

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